【推荐1】Chen Zijiang is a paper-cutting expert whom I interviewed for my article on Chinese Art. Paper-cutting is something that he learned to do from an early age.

“It is a Chinese folk art with a long history,” Mr. Chen told me, “Paper cuts of animals have been found in tombs which date back to the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasty!” He added that by the Southern Song Dynasty, paper-cutting had become an important part of everyday life.

Mr. Chen went on to explain that there are three types of paper cuts which people still make today: paper cuts for decoration, for religious purposes and for design patterns.

Paper cuts used for decoration are often seen on windows and gates. They are often put up during holidays to bring good luck. They are also used on presents. For example, a present for parents whose child has recently been born might show a paper cut of children. Paper cuts which show the Chinese character for double happiness are often used to celebrate weddings.

Paper cuts used for religious purposes are often found in temples. They are also used as offerings(祭品) to the dead. People to whom the dead person was related would make these offerings on special days and during festivals

Paper cuts of the third kind are those used to make patterns on clothing. They are also sometimes used to decorate jewellery boxes. Dragons are very popular patterns for these designs.

The interview is very useful as I’ve got a lot of interesting information for my article. I am also ready to try out paper-cutting for myself.

【推荐2】Humans are social animals. They live in groups all over the world. As these groups of people live apart from other groups, over the years and centuries they develop their own habits and ideas, which are different from other cultures. One important particular side of every culture is how its people deal with time.

Time is not very important in nonindustrial (非工业的) societies. The Nuer people of East Africa, for example, do not even have a word TIME that is in agreement with the abstract thing we call time. The daily lives of the people of such nonindustrial societies are likely to be patterned around their physical needs and natural events rather than around a time schedule (时间表) based on the clock. They cook and eat when they are hungry and sleep when the sun goes down. They plant crops during the growing seasons and harvest them when the crops are ripe. They measure time not by a clock or calendar, but by saying that an event takes place before or after some other event. Frequently such a society measures days in terms of “sleeps” or longer periods in terms of “moons”. Some cultures, such as the Eskimos of Greenland measure seasons according to the migration of certain animals.

Some cultures which do not have a written language or keep written records have developed interesting ways of “telling time”. For example, when several Australian aborigines want to plan an event for a future time, one of them places a stone on a cliff or in a tree. Each day the angle of the sun changes slightly. In a few days, the rays of the sun strike the stone in a certain way. When this happens, the people see that the agreed-upon time has arrived and the event can take place.

In contrast (成对比), exactly correct measurement of time is very important in modern, industrialized societies.

This is because industrialized societies require the helpful efforts of many people in order to work. For a factory to work efficiently (well, quickly and without waste), for example, all of the workers must work at the same time. Therefore, they must know what time to start work in the morning and what time they may go home in the afternoon. Passengers must know the exact time that an airplane will arrive or depart. Students and teachers need to know when a class starts and ends. Stores must open on time in order to serve their customers. Complicated (复杂的) societies need clocks and calendars. Thus, we can see that if each person worked according to his or her own schedule, a complicated society could hardly work at all.

【推荐3】After Donald Trump became the 45th American president, a new video of his granddaughter Arabella went popular once again on the Internet. In this video, the little girl wore a qipao, a kind of traditional Chinese dress. She stood in front of a table to recite(背诵)ancient Chinese poems. These poems are familiar(熟悉的) to most Chinese people and they are often recited by Chinese kids. Arabella made the video to remember Chinese Monkey Year, which ended on January 27th, 2017.

Arabella’s family are interested in Chinese culture. They can even make Chinese dumplings and sing Chinese songs. Arabella began to study Chinese when she was 18 months old. Now she can speak very good Chinese. Early in February, 2016, 4-year-old Arabella, recited a Tang Dynasty poem in Chinese. Her mother sent her video online and won lots of “likes” from all over the world.

On Sonia Weibo, many users thought Arabella was a wonderful and surprising girl. “I’m glad to see the little angel loves Chinese culture.” Wrote a user called “orange”.

“At least her video shows that Trump is serious about education and never closes the door to foreign culture,” said another user named “stAU79”.

【推荐2】Best Smartphone Games to Put Your Brain to Test

I am a fan of NMORPGs. But sometimes I play brain games. Here are four games for you that will surely put your brain to test.

Chess has been bursting brains for many centuries, and this virtual (虚拟的) change of chess really brings a new taste. It’s not an ordinary game, for it’s a 3D virtual chess that lets you play with users from all around the world. You can chat with opponents, play with AI, get newbie (新手) tips and much more. The animations and 3D structures are really cool as well.

Juice Cubes is a light and colorful game full of fruity juice cubes that you need to connect to pop and clear levels. There are multiple types of challenges, power ups, and more than 550 levels to keep you addicted. It might seem easy at the start, but it will burst your brain when you reach higher levels.

WorldBrain 2 is really a fun word game where you need to guess words based on the number of letters provided. Each word puzzle has a theme category, such as food, human body, color or even space. And you can also use hints(暗示) to solve the level when you get stuck. Your vocabulary is sure to be challenged in it.

Puzzlerama basically joins some of the top puzzles in one single app, making it a perfect app for puzzle lovers. It lets you play popular puzzle games such as flow, jigsaw, unblock, pipes, tangram and more. There are hundreds of levels available for each puzzle type and things get really tough as you advance. The game interface (界面) is also very colorful, and smooth animations make the game fun to play.

【推荐1】“What kind of rubbish are you?” This question might normally cause anger, but in Shanghai it has brought about complaints(抱怨) over the past month. On July 1^st, 2019, the city introduced strict trash-sorting rules that are expected to be used as a model for the country. Residents must divide their waste into four separate groups and throw it into specific public bins.

Shanghai is faced with an obvious environmental problem. It produces 9 million tons of rubbish a year, and the number is rising quickly. Like other cities in China, it is in short of a recycling system. Instead, it has relied on trash pickers to pick out whatever can be reused. This has limitations. As people get wealthier, fewer of them want to do such dirty work. The waste, meanwhile, just keeps piling up.

Many people appear to be bothered by the details. Rubbish must be divided according to whether it is food, recyclable, dry or hazardous(有害的), the differences among which can be complex and confusing. Some have complained that they must put food waste straight in the required public bin, forcing them to tear open plastic bags and throw it by hand. Most annoying are the short scheduled time for throwing trash, typically a couple of hours, morning and evening. This means that people go at around the same time and anyone can keep an eye on what is being thrown out; no one wants to look bad.

People who fail to obey the rules will be punished. They could be hit with fines of up to 200 yuan ($29). For repeat violators, the city can add black marks to their credit records, making it harder for them to get bank loans or even buy train tickets.

However, others support the idea of recycling in general and say a tough campaign is necessary. “Slowly people will get used to it,” says Li Changjun of Fudan University.

【推荐2】Climbing Without Ropes

The popular image of the mountain climber is of a person carefully climbing a steep cliff with a network of safety ropes, but it is not the only kind. Many climbers now enjoy bouldering. It’s more accessible and better for the environment.

Here is an example of a climber addressing a bouldering problem.

Figure 1: The climber has two routes she could take, one to the left and one to the right. The left one appears easier because it has a jug within easy reach, but look what happens if she chooses that direction. She gets stuck on the rock and has to go back down. Sometimes that is even difficult than going up.

Figure 2: The climber takes the one to the right this time. using a foothold and placing her right hand in a crimp, she is able to life herself up and locate other handholds. After only a few moves, she is able to throw her leg over the top of the boulder and pull herself up.

【推荐3】According to a study published in the pre-print website bioRxiv, a team of Israeli scientists recorded tomato and tobacco plants producing sound frequencies which humans cannot hear in stressful situations-such as when they experienced a lack of water or their stems were cut. The team identified the sounds with microphones placed around 10 centimeters (around four inches) away from the plants, though the scientists say the noises could potentially be heard several feet away by some mammals and insects, such as mice.

Plants exposed to drought stress have been shown to experience cavitation—a process where air bubbles form, expand and explode inside tissue that transports water. These explosions produce sound, but they have only ever been recorded using devices directly connected to the plants. The latest study, meanwhile, is the first to identify plants making sounds which can be detected over a distance. And the researchers say that cavitation could potentially be the source of these sounds.

The team detected the tomato plants made 35 sounds an hour on average when they were exposed to drought conditions, while the tobacco plants produced 11. When the stems of the plants were cut, the tomato plants made 25 sounds an hour on average and the tobacco plants produced 15.As a comparison, unstressed plants made less than one sound hour on average, according to the study.

The team say that while they only tested tomato and tobacco. It's possible that other plants could also produce sounds, adding that the latest findings could have implications for agriculture. “Plant sound emissions could offer a novel way for monitoring crops' water state- a question of vital importance in agriculture,” the authors wrote in the study. “more Precise irrigation can save up to 50 percent of the water consumption and increase the output, with dramatic economic implications.”

“According to Anne Visscher from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the U.K, the idea that the sounds could be used in precision agriculture is, practical' though she urges caution regarding the Israeli team's suggestion that other animals could hear the sounds at a distance,” New Scientist reported.

【推荐1】Six Flags and another amusement park company shut down eight more thrill rides on Friday around the US after a teenage girl had her feet cut off at the ankle on a Superman Tower of Power.

State inspectors, meanwhile, returned to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom where the accident happened to examine the ride, which lifts passengers 54 metres straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 87kph.

It was unclear at what point during the ride the 13-year-old was injured on Thursday, said Wendy Goldberg, a Six Flags spokesperson.

The girl was taken to a hospital. Details of her condition were not immediately available on Friday.

Six Flags has shut down similar rides at parks in St. Louis, Gurnee, Illinois, and near Washington as a safety precaution, Goldberg said. Six Flags Over Texas, near Dallas, also has a Superman Tower of Power, but it is not the same ride, Goldberg said.

There were no reports of injuries on the ride before Thursday, she said.

“Millions of people have safely ridden this ride in our parks,” Goldberg said.

The accident led Cedar Fair Entertainment to shut down and inspect drop tower rides at five of its amusement parks as a precaution, company spokesperson Stacy Frole said.

Intamin, a Swiss company, made all the rides that were closed by both companies, said Craig Ross, a spokesperson for Cedar Fair.

“We're going to keep these things down until we're certain it’s safe," Ross said. "We'll wait and see.”

An email message sent to Intamin was not immediately returned on Friday.

The five Cedar Fair rides that will be shut down are at Kings Island near Cincinnati; Canada's Wonderland, in Toronto； Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia; Carowinds, in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Great America in Santa Clara, California.

【推荐2】Students, teachers, and local community members are strongly encouraged to register online to receive real-time information of emergency events from Columbia University.

Text message warnings will only be used in rare cases where ongoing events cause an immediate threat or have a significant influence. Possible situations include severe weather conditions, emergency campus closures, crimes in progress that may endanger the community, and major transportation interruptions.

Read instructions on how to sign up for emergency notifications（通知）.

Columbia students

Columbia students can easily register for text message notifications. Simply enter Student Services Online, click on "Text Message Enrollment" and add your cellphone number. Students can register parents or family members by following the instructions for the public below.

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Columbia teachers can register for text message notifications by following the step by step instructions below:

● Register with your UNI and password at my.columbia.edu.

● Select "Faculty & Staff" at the top of the page.

● Select "Contact Details".

● Click the "+" under "Phone".

● Select "Campus Alert 1".

● Enter your mobile number.

To receive emergency information on additional mobile phones, you may follow the above instructions for "Campus Alert 2" and "Campus Alert 3" for a total of three.

Community/General Public

Community/General Public interested in receiving emergency information from Columbia can sign up by clicking on the "Register" button on the registration page and entering their email and mobile number. Users will receive confirmation code（密码）on their phone and will need to confirm their account via email.

Users can choose not to use the Emergency Text Alert System at any time by texting STOP to 226787, calling 226789 or sending an email to lr27682@.cumc.columbia.edu.

【推荐3】A lot of people in England have a very strong obsession (痴迷) with football. You might even say they are fanatics! When I was growing up, everyone would rush out to the playground during the break times, desperate to play a game of football.

Whenever there is a big match, all the flags for local football teams are hung outside every window, or even spread proudly on T-shirts or scarves. There is an atmosphere of excitement in the air. Groups of young men crowd into dark, packed bars, peering at tiny television screens in the corners. They shout and scream in frustration when their team loses a goal, or with joy when there is a moment of success.  

Football has never been something I have been particularly interested in. For years, I have had to feign (装作) excitement, and pick a team or risk ridicule (嘲笑). You cannot say you don’t like or do not follow football in England, as often this would lead to a long dialogue in which someone would begin telling you why you should support their team. Growing up in north London, I quickly learned everyone around me supported Arsenal, and so I blindly did the same, for fear of having the same conversation more than fifty times.

You do not have to be a fan of football to get caught up in the excitement. Often, I feel annoyed when everyone around me is full of excitement over two groups of people kicking a ball in a field. However, I understand the culture, and I enjoy the excitement. While I may not ultimately desire to play the sport or take part in supporting the teams, I will nevertheless defend people's obsession with the sport. It is their history and obsession.